Depending on where you live, your school's graduation requirements may be shaped by
 state laws. 
It is important that every homeschooling family understand and comply with the
statutes and regulations
of their state.  Homeschool Diploma.com does not provide legal advice.

Di·plo´·ma: noun.

"A certificate issued to a student by a school, college, or university, indicating graduation or conferring a degree."

There is nothing mysterious about the homeschool diploma.  As the administrator of your home school, you set the requirements for graduation.  When you determine that your children have met those requirements, you issue a diploma to certify that fact. 

Some families choose to enroll their children in an umbrella school or a correspondence school that offers a diploma program, and several states offer programs for homeschoolers to gain a state-accredited diploma. However, there are many who desire more educational freedom than such programs allow. By using the home school as an umbrella to encompass a wide variety of courses and educational experiences,  families are able to tailor an education to the specific needs and interests of their children, and then issue their own high school diploma. 

"What does a homeschool diploma mean?"

The diploma is a convenient, physical representation of the fact that the work your student has done meets your standards for graduation. If you were asked to PROVE that fact, you would show the records you have kept of their work, in other words, their transcript. We recommend that you prepare a transcript for your student, regardless of whether you feel that they may need it. It is the kind of thing that is very difficult to do down the road a few years, and the transcript is the "meat" that "backs up" the diploma you issue.

"What is accreditation and to whom does it matter?"

It is true that your home school -- and therefore your diploma -- is not accredited.   What is accreditation? Accrediting agencies  -- and there are many different ones -- set minimum standards that schools must uphold to receive and maintain accreditation. This allows them to guarantee that a credit issued by one school in the group will be equivalent to and accepted by other schools in the same group. The process of accreditation takes years to complete. It surprised me to learn from Inge Cannon of Education Plus  that many public high schools are not accredited.  The fact that  your homeschool does not have accreditation is not a negative thing.  The standards you have set for educating your child are not the same as those of any other school, and you have no reason to try to prove that they are.

For more about what accreditation means for your home school,  we recommend Barb Shelton's excellent article called "The Issue of Accreditation" at her Homeschool Oasis web site. Though the article was written a number of years ago, it is still pertinent... in fact, the test of time has proven the truth of her words!

"Will the diploma I issue be accepted anywhere?"

Job applications usually have a box to check if the applicant has a high school diploma, and a line on which to write the name of the school. If your student has done the work, there is no reason that they should not be able to say "YES," and if you have supervised their education, you would be doing them a disservice if you did NOT issue them a diploma. Of course, there is no guarantee that their diploma will be accepted by everyone -- no doubt you understood that when you made the decision to home school through the high school years. There are still situations where someone will say "Not good enough!" Be sure that you know that laws of your state and understand your legal position in such a situation. It may help to be able to point to a similar situation elsewhere where a homeschool diploma was "good enough," or you may decide to offer to provide a copy of the transcript, or submit to a test that they may require.

For college-bound students, a home school diploma is usually not an issue, because the student's transcripts and test scores tell admissions officers a great deal about the quality of their education. In fact, the presence of a correspondence school diploma in the case of a home schooled student may actually be a detractor if it is viewed as the sum total of the student's education.  Transcripts, portfolios, student essays, and recommendations which demonstrate qualities such as creativity, leadership, initiative or other unique, homeschool-strengthened traits prove the worth of the homeschool diploma, especially if test scores back up the student's abilities in "measurable" academic areas.

More information on issuing a homeschool diploma:

1. How Do We Know When We're Done?
One of the best articles I have read on the subject of granting a diploma is by Cafi Cohen, author of several excellent books about homeschooling teens.  This article comes from the Home Education Magazine website: 

2. The Diploma Quest(ion)
Be sure to read this very thoughtful article by Barb Shelton, which is excerpted from her book, Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+U+la. The article is at her website, The Homeschool Oasis:

3.David and Laurie Callihan are the authors of an excellent book titled The Guidance Manual for the Christian Home School. It gives solid information about diplomas and transcripts.